Georgia Southwestern State University - Gale Yearbook (Americus, GA)

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Qilhurch of C11l11'i5f county seat. The county was in honor of General Thomas Sumter, distinguished commander of South Carolina troops in the Revolution . . . At that time he was the last living general of the Revolutionary War. . . . There were many private schools in Americus prior to the establishment of the public school system in 1872 . . . ln 1859 . . . The Furlow Masonic Female Col- lege KFMFCJ was incorporated. . . . The Masonic Lodge made provision for many girls to attend the school IFMFCJ who were not 8 financially able to do so. ln order to save these girls embarrassment, all girls attending the college were required to wear sunbonnets and to tie their hair with shoestrings in- stead of ribbons. All the girls who finished the school were not per- mitted to graduate - a number of fathers did not think it fitting for a young lady to appear on stage. . . . Churches were established in Americus soon after the public square was laid out 1 about 1 854 J. Q Georgia Review continues with information about small towns established in Americus vicinity. These towns, the story goes, were wide open, with their saloons, gambling halls, and prostitutes. The men were described as gun- totin, straight shooters, who drank hard liquor and voted the Demo- cratic ticket. The advent of the railroads ended these towns. With a record of fighting achieved in the various Indian Campaigns, Sumter County was alert to give both men and means to the Confederacy. Before the end

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ln 1834 Americus began to as- sume more the semblance of a town, the county as well as the town was being settled up, and it became necessary, in order that the ends of justice might be met, to build a court house . . . It was not a very elegant building, but ful- ly answered the purpose for which it was built. . . . At this present writing, August 1869, there are more stores than there were families, and more shops and other places of busi- ness, than there were souls in June 1846, . . . . . . I wore the grey, and am nei- ther afraid not ashamed to own itg I still wear it - it's my favorite color, and I will wear it till my grey cloes are exchanged for my shroud. . . . Americus continued to improve rapidly, so much so, that in 1854 a council for the govern- ment of the city was elected ,... The October 5, 1854 Sumter Republican edited by Mr. C. W. Hancock reported: lt affords us pleasure to inform our readers that the railroad to Americus is com- pleted . . . Southwestern railroad. Though many, many envy, she has a large scope of rich country, settled by wealthy planters, to sus- tain her, and her prospects for the future are brilliant indeed . . . We have good churches and schools, good society, good health, and good water. In an article entitled Americus', in Ih-el Georgia Review fVol. IV, Summer, 1950 No. 21 by Daisy O. Mallard and Virginia M. Culpepper is extracted the following: When the new county of Sumter was laid out from a portion of Lee in 1831, Americus became the 7

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'X Mft? 75.1 of this great war, Americus and its vicinity had furnished two regi- ments . . As a result of that war, our country came into possession of another city, an eternal monument of a grim sort, the now famous An- dersonville Prison Park and Ceme- tery. At that prison, between Feb- ruary 1864, and October, 1865, over 13,000 Northern soldiers died, to be buried there. During this time, 52,345 prisoners incarcerated there, as many as 33,000 at one time. The food and medicine blockade imposed upon the South, the cutting of railway lines, and the demoralized condition of the farms caused great deprivation even to the Southern soldier and civilians, and they naturally brought intense suffering to prisoners of war. ln 1884 an Americus gas plant was built. ln 1889 an electric light system was added . . . The first electrically driven street cars in the state were intro- duced I1 8891, but since most of the residents kept horse-drawn vehi- cles, the city was forced to discon- tinue the electric cars, and tracks were removed. ln 1891, the Windsor Hotel was completed forthe sum of S150,000. The hotel was the scene of the most elaborate social functions and many distinguished visitors enjoyed its hospitality and lavish entertainment in the 1890's. Americus has been slow to ac- cept the doubtful advantages of change . . . They fdiehardsl liked their easy way of life, their exclu- sive society, and the didn't care 9